ADDIS ABABA – Ministry of Trade and Industry stated the government’s effort to stabilize the market amid the Coronavirus pandemic has been fruitful as the market is healthy and there are no shortages so far.
Talking to The Ethiopian Herald, Wondimu Filate, the Ministry’s Communications Director, said a national taskforce is set up to oversee the healthy and legal functioning of the market during the pandemic.
The taskforce is going about it by making sure there is no artificial price increase, goods are not mixed with other contents, and the businessmen do not hoard or divert their product to create shortages in the market.
The taskforce has already taken corrective measures on some member of the business community that are driving up the price without justifiable economic reasons.
So far, administrative and legal measures have been taken on more than 25 thousand people, he said before
adding that the administrative measures included closing down business enterprises, annulling business licenses, and blocking business operating licenses. Legal measures were also taken on 424 businesspeople for unethically compromising the quality of their product to the point of being hazardous to the safety of the public.
These administrative and legal measures the government took to uphold rule of law and stabilize the market during this challenging time have gained the acceptance of the general public, which as a result has allowed the efforts of the Ministry to be more broad, and community-based one, Wondimu opined.
As a result, many works have been done to control artificial price spike in most basic goods, according to him.
In addition to this, in a bid to stabilize the market and minimize potential supply problems that may come in relation to the COVID-19, the government has taken 1.5 million quintal wheat on loan from Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission in a bid to temporally maintain supply until the usual government wheat subsidy is imported. Also, as part of this effort, the government is setting in motion an effort to enable members of the Diaspora community to open LC account to import basic goods.
Furthermore, the government is already in talks with huge international multinational corporations (MNCs) to import and sell these goods at a profit margin the government decides. “We have already sent out ads through the media, and we are in the process of short-listing them.”
In parallel with this, the government is making a comprehensive effort to make sure that there will be no shortages of basic goods in the market by integrating all the cooperatives and unions with consumer associations, and that goods and services freely move in a legal and healthy manner without any limitations.
Finally, Wondimu called on the business community to take the necessary precaution since it is the most vulnerable group, as business transaction for the most part in the country is done hand to hand.
The Ethiopian Herald April 29/2020BY STAFF REPORTER
